Toy construction block



y 1933' c. H. PAJEAU TOY CONSTRUCTION BLOCK Original Filed Jan. 16, 1952Patented July 4, 19 33 UNITED STATES PATENT oFncE.

CHARLES HAMILTON PAJEA'U, OF GLENOOE, ILLINOIS, LSSIGNOB TO'THE TOY INC,01 EVAIISTON, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION)! ILLINOIS TOY CONSTRUCTION-3100KOriginal application filed January 18, 1982, Serial 1T0. 587,013..Divided and this application fled plication #587,013, filed January 16,1932,

on Toy construction blocks, and relates to an additional structuralelement which will permit the erection of greater variety of structures,including semblances of mechanism from a structural toy block setcomprising rods of uniform diameter and members for rigidly connectingsuch rods. 7

Generally speaking, the object of my invention is that of providing asimple, compact and inexpensive structural toy element having oneportion constructed so as to afford either a bearing for journaling aportion of such a rod, or a guide in which such a rod can be slidlongitudinally and which will have another portion arranged for grippingan end of such a rod, so that this novel element can be rigidly butdetachably secured to such a rod and also can serve as a cap-like stopon the end of a rod for limiting a longitudinal sliding of the rod.

Illustrative of my invention and of the numerous ways in which my novelstructural toy block may be employed,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a mechanism showing the useof my novel block both for hearings in which a rod is rotatable and as astop for limiting the longitudinal sliding of the rod in the bearing,with some of the elements spaced widely to clarify the drawing.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical section taken along the line 22 of Fig.1, with the clearance around a portion of the horizontal rodexaggerated.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the parts shown in Fig. 2, taken from theright-hand of that figure and drawn on a somewhat smaller scale. I

Fig. 4 is an enlarged section taken along the common axes of the rodswhich simulate the crank-pin and the crank-shaft portions in Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is an elevation showing a part of a mechanism simulating afriction drive,

showing my novel block used both as a'jour-.

nal and as a stop member.

In United States Patent #1,113,371 I dis closed toy construction blocksconsisting merely of cylindrical rods and of rodconnecting disks, eachdisk having an axial bore and radial bores of the same diameter, andeach rod havin f both ends thereof constructed for wedging y oryieldingly socketing in Serial No. 648,575.

any such borel With the rods of such a set of toy construction blockssuitably .proportioned, a large variety of structures can be erected,but only with all of the constituent blocks relatively stationary,thereb limiting the fascination afforded to older 0 ildren.

In my copending companion ap lica-tion #587,013 (filed J anuar 16, 1932I disclosed a novel additiona block in the form desirable simulations ofmechanisms, and the consider able cost of the there disclosed block. Mypresent invention overcomes these objections by providing a much smallerand less expensive rod-connecting member which can more easily behandled by even a young child and which can be used advantageously inmuch more limited spaces.

As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, my novel rodconnecting member consists of acylinder 1 (desirably of wood), having near one end thereof a transversebore 2 of slightly larger diameter than the rods R of the structural toyset. In addition, this connector has an axial bore 3 extending into itfrom the other end of the cylinder, and of such a size that an end ofany of the uniformly diametered rods will wedge tightly in it. Thisaxial bore perferably extends only part way toward the transverse bore,so as to eliminate the interior burrs which cannot readily be avoidedwhen intersecting bores are formed in wood, and also to avoid thepossibility of having the rod end in the axial bore jam a rod extendingthrough the transverse bore.

With my new rod connecting member thus constructed, even a young childcan readily socket this member 1 axially on the upper end of a rod R andthen turn two such rodserve in connection with split-ended rods ofuniform diameter, Fig. 1 is a perspective view ofpart of toy structuresimulating a crank-driven reciprocating pump or engine, which structurewas pictured in its entirety in my said copending application #587,013.

In this structure, the crank-simulating portion includes three of thewheel-like disks W disclosed in the aforesaid application as eachprovided with radial bores 5 of rodgripping size, an axial bore 6 ofsuch diameter as to permit one of the said rods to be slid free] throughit, and as also being provided wit rod-gripping bores 6 spaced from andextending parallel tothe axis of the disk.

In assembling such a crank-simulation, two of these wheel-like disks Waand W?) are first connected, as shown in the upper portion of Fig. 4, bya short rod R which extends freely through the larger-diametered axialbore 6 of the central disk We, each end of this rod being forcibly slidinto one of the non-axial transverse bores 7 of the two outer disks soas to compress that rod sufliciently for having it tightly gripped. Thisis done while the two outer disks are held in axial alinement, so thatthe transverse bores 7 which are diametrically opposite to the aforesaidbores 7 are also in alin'ement. Then two other rods R and R have theiradjacent ends slid towards each other into the said bores 7 to causethese rods to-betightly socketed in the two outer disks and in alinementwith each other, thereby completing the simulation of a crank in whichthe upper horizontal rod R forms a crank-pin, the two outer disks Wu andW6 form crank arms, and the alined rods R and R are alined stub shaftportions.

To support this crank assembly rotatable,

each of these stub shaft rods R and R is then slid through thecross-bore 2 in one of m novel construction toy elements, which elementsare hereafter termed cap members. Then one end of each of two rods R isgrippingly socketed inthe longitudinal bore 3 of one of these capmembers, these rods being connected to stationary elements of the toyconstruction set in any customary manner. Another disk Wd carrying ahandle-forming rod R can be attached to the outer end of one of the rodsR to constitute a hand crank, and a rod R extending into a radial bore 5in the central disk We can constitute a piston rod. Another cap member 1A can also be tightly fitted over the free end of the shaft stub rod Rwith that end extending into its longitudinal bore, as shown in Figs. 1and 4, so that this cap member 1 A serves as a stop member for limitingthe sliding of the crank and shaft assembly in one direction.

Fig. 5 shows a friction drive portion of a structural toy assembly inwhich one of the disks W has an upright rod R extending freely throughthe axial bore of the disk,

and in which an edge portion of this disk rests on a peripheral portionof a second disk D which is peripherally grooved so as to be rotated byabelt 8. This second disk is fast upon one end ,of a short horizontal rodR which extends loosely through the cross-bore in an upright cap member,and another cap member 10 is tightly fitted upon the other end of thesaid rod R Thus assembled, the upri ht cap member 9 affords the singlebearing or the shaft-like rod 79, while the companion cap member 10serves as a stop for engaging a side of the cap member 9 to limit thelongitudinal sliding ofthe shaft-rod and the disk mounted on the latter.

Thus my simple cap members readily afford connections between rods whichpermit a longitudinal sliding of the rod (as in Fig. 2), a journaling ofa rod with freedom for rotation (as in case of the cap members 1 A inFigs. 1 and 2, or of the cap member 9 in Fig. 5), or a limiting of thesliding of a rod in one direction (as in the case of the cap member 1 Aof Fig. l, or 10 of- Fig. 3)

In commercial practice, these cap members preferably are of wood, but Ido not wish to be limited either in this respect or to the configurationof this novel type of element, since many changes might be made withoutdeparting either from the spirit of my invention or from the scope ofthe appended claims. I claim as my invention:

1. A toy construction block for use with rodsof uniform diameter,comprising a cap member having a bore extending part way into it fromone end of that member, the bore being of such. a size as to fit tightlyover an end portion of a rod; the cap member also having a cross-boreextending through it between the inner end of the last named bore andthe other end of'the cap member, the

y cross-bore being sufficiently larger in diameter than a rod to permitthe rod to slide freely through it.

2. A toy construction block for use with resilient rods of uniformdiameter, each of which rods has each end thereof slitted to permit adiametric contraction of that end, comprising a cylinder having an axialbore extending part way into it from one end of the cylinder, the borebeing of such a size as for grippingly fitting over the slitted endportion of a rod; the cylinder also having a cross-bore extendingthrough it between the inner end. of the said axial bore and the otherend of the cylinder, the cross-bore having its axis intersecting and atright angles to the axis of the cylinder, and the cross-bore beingsuflieiently larger in diameter than a rod to permit a rod to beslidably inserted through it and thereafter to permit free rotation ofthe rod within the cross-bore.

CHARLES HAMILTON PAJEAU.

Signed at Evanston, Illinois, Dec. 2nd,

